Jess T. Dugan photographs, 2006-2021

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Collection is open for research. Images may only be used for educational, non-commercial purposes; any other use requires the photographer's permission.
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Summary

Creator:
Archive of Documentary Arts (Duke University) and Dugan, Jess T.
Abstract:
Collection comprises three bodies of color and black-and-white work by photographer Jess T. Dugan: To Survive on this Shore: Photographs of Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Older Adults (2013-2017); A Moment Collected: Photographs at the Harvard Art Museum (2006-2008); and Look At Me Like You Love Me (2020-2021). Nearly all the images are portraits ranging from staff at the Harvard Art Museum, one of Dugan's earliest projects, to gender non-conforming people, gay men and women, and transgender people. The 120 prints are signed, dated, and titled by the artist. Acquired as part of the Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke Unviversity.
Extent:
4.5 Linear Feet (3 boxes)
Language:
Materials in English
Collection ID:
RL.11524

Background

Scope and content:

Collection consists of three bodies of documentary work by photographer Jess T. Dugan.

The first, To Survive on This Shore, comprises 40 color inkjet photographs of transgender and gender non-conforming people over the age of 50, living throughout the United States. These portraits are part of an interdisciplinary project titled "To Survive on This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Older Adults." They portray single individuals as well as couples, chiefly in outdoor settings such as parks and streets. All images measure roughly 15 x 20 inches (sheet size). The interviews conducted for the project are not included in this collection. For this work, Dugan received the Rubenstein Library's 2017 Archive of Documentary Arts Award for Women Documentarians.

The second series, A Moment Collected: Photographs at the Harvard Art Museum, offers 18 black-and-white portraits of staff at the Harvard Museum of Art, taken from 2006-2008 as the museum and its employees prepared for a major move and renovation. The prints form a 2011 limited-edition portfolio and are housed in a custom hinged portfolio box with accompanying textual narrative.

The third portfolio, Look At Me Like You Love Me, consists of 61 16x20 inch prints, almost all portraits of individuals and couples along with a few still lifes. Some images are self-portraits of the photographer and their partner. Through these portraits, Dugan examines gender expression, self-identity, and life experience, and documents communities of friends, lovers, and family.

Acquired as part of the Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University.

Biographical / historical:

Jess T. Dugan is an artist and documentary photographer whose work explores issues of gender, sexuality, identity, life experiences, and community. Dugan holds an MFA in Photography from Columbia College Chicago, a Master of Liberal Arts in Museum Studies from Harvard University, and a BFA in Photography from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

Dugan's work has been exhibited internationally at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, the Aperture Foundation, the San Diego Museum of Art, and other institutions, and is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Harvard Art Museums, Duke University's David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, and others.

In 2016, Dugan was honored as a Commended Artist by the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. for their photograph titled "Self-Portrait (Muscle Shirt)," as part of the exhibit titled The Outwin 2016: American Portraiture Today. For "Surviving on this Shore," Dugan was awarded the Duke University Rubenstein Library's Archive of Documentary Arts 2017 Collection Award for Women Documentarians. Their photobook, Look At Me Like You Love Me, was short-listed for the 2022 Paris Photo–Aperture PhotoBook Awards.

From the artist's statement: "Identity and social connection are driving forces in my life and work, and I have long been drawn to making photographic portraits in pursuit of a deeper understanding of these human experiences. Over the past fifteen years, my photographs have explored issues of gender, sexuality, identity, and community, shifting between an internally focused, subjective examination of myself and an outwardly focused, socially and politically motivated documentation of the LGBTQ community. These perspectives are inextricably linked; my personal identity as a queer person is inherently political, and the open portrayal of my body, experiences, and family creates a platform from which I can intimately engage with others."

Acquisition information:
The Jess T. Dugan photographs were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a purchase in 2017, 2019, and 2022.
Processing information:

Processed by Yuqiao Cao, Paula Jeannet, and Alanna Styer, November 2017 and July 2019.

Addition (2022-0145) processed by Prakruti Kumar and described by Paula Jeannet, October 2022.

Accession(s) represented in this collection guide: 2017-0132, 2019-0105, 2022-0145.

Arrangement:

The series are organized by project, and prints within are arranged in original order as received from the photographer.

Physical facet:
120 prints
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

Using These Materials

Using These Materials Links:

Using These Materials

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research. Images may only be used for educational, non-commercial purposes; any other use requires the photographer's permission.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Jess T. Dugan photographs, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

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https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/m1x89t